Red Sox Notebook: Jake Peavy out 3 days with a cut finger

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Jake Peavy arrived at Boston’s spring training complex on Monday with a large white bandage covering his left index finger, the result of a weekend accident.

The right-hander, scratched from his scheduled spring training debut Monday against Pittsburgh in Bradenton, said he was hurt Saturday.

Additional Photos

Boston Red Sox pitcher Koji Uehara throws during the fourth inning of an exhibition spring training baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Red Sox in Bradenton, Fla., on Monday. The Associated Press

Related Headlines

“Just getting ready to go fishing,” he said. “I promised my little boy I would take him fishing, so we went to Bass Pro and we bought us some rods and reels that were comboed.”

Peavy said he was “trying to cut the wire tie that was holding them together, using the knife with my right hand and holding the rod with my left, and when I broke the wire tie, it struck the knuckle pretty good.”

Since Peavy didn’t want to disappoint his son they drove to teammate John Lackey’s house. But while pulling the knife out of his hand, Peavy said he struck a vein and got a good amount of blood on his shorts.

Peavy said he threw away the shorts at Lackey’s house and changed. Lackey told Peavy he should get the wound examined.

Peavy then went fishing and didn’t catch anything.

“I couldn’t tell my 5-year-old I didn’t want to go fishing anymore,” Peavy said. “It was his last day here. I couldn’t say, ‘We’ll go tomorrow.’ It wasn’t the biggest deal in the world. Not much we could have done except – the biggest thing was, they were freaking out, thinking I was cleaning fish with the knife.”

The 32-year-old Peavy, acquired by Boston last summer, was 4-1 with a 4.04 ERA in 10 starts for the Red Sox last season and 0-1 with a 7.10 ERA in three postseason starts. He received several stitches Sunday.

“It’s a bummer. I didn’t think it was that crazy bad to the point I didn’t seek medical attention. That day we wrapped it up and went fishing. I came in here yesterday and realized we needed to have it stitched up and we would have to take some precautionary measures. You just don’t want to risk infection. I could go out and play today if it was a must, but you can’t risk infection and let it sweat. And me not getting it tended to right off the bat, you just don’t want to get it infected and that’s the reason we’re going to hold off a day or two.”

Red Sox Manager John Farrell said on Sunday that Peavy will not throw for three days.

“I don’t think it’s going to be long at all,” Peavy said.

“I would like to get out, play some catch and do some stuff tomorrow. The biggest thing is they’re not going to let me sweat until the healing process takes over. I believe I’m going to play catch and I would love to tell you I’m going to make my next start. That’s certainly what I’m aiming for and hopefully we can do that and get back on schedule and it doesn’t mess things up too much.”

Peavy is behind because of irritation in his right ring finger stemming from when he was hit by a ball while shagging flies early in spring training. Farrell said Peavy’s timetable to start the season may not be affected if he can get back to his throwing program soon. Peavy could be fitted with padding in his glove.

“That’s going to be the kicker,” Peavy said. “It’s on a knuckle. We’ll figure it out. Get a bigger glove or something. I’m sure they’ll wrap it up and get it to the point where I’ll watch it all the way, like I tell my boys, and make sure the ball goes into the pocket of glove.”

And at least the injury isn’t to his pitching hand.

“We’ve all done something like that at some point in our lives,” he said. “It was a huge bummer, but so blessed it was my left hand. A bummer to miss a start and get off schedule a little.”

PIRATES 7, RED SOX 6: Pedro Alvarez and Russell Martin hit two-run homers off Brandon Workman, who started in place of the injured Peavy, and Pittsburgh beat Boston at Bradenton, Fla.

Mike Carp, trying to win a bench job with the Red Sox, hit a two-run homer against Bryan Morris in the eighth.

Pittsburgh leadoff batter Starling Marte reached on an infield single in the first that stopped an 0-for-9 start, and Alvarez homered to right off Workman with two outs. Marte singled in the third, and Martin followed with a drive to left, his second homer in two days.

Workman gave up five runs and five hits in 2 1/3 innings in place of Peavy.

Red Sox Manager John Farrell said there was no change in Peavy’s status.

“He’s going to be pretty much day to day,” Farrell said.

“We’ve got to be careful how much he sweats and be cautious about any potential infection getting in there. That’s what we’re gauging everything by now.”

Pirates starter Francisco Liriano struck out three and walked one in two hitless innings. He zipped through his two innings on just 25 pitches.

After giving way to Edinson Volquez, Liriano threw 10 more in the bullpen before calling it a day.

“I felt a lot better about my fastball command today,” said Liriano, who’s made two starts. “The sinker was a lot better.”

Pirates first baseman Gaby Sanchez has not played since Friday, when he hurt his right knee while sliding into third base. Tests showed no structural damage, and Sanchez took some swings in a batting cage Monday.

PEAVY’S INJURY had a familiar ring to Pittsburgh’s Travis Snider, who made his first start in the outfield this spring training.

Snider had offseason foot surgery and sliced his left hand in a kitchen accident a few days before reporting to camp. He found out via Twitter about Peavy’s injury.

“I heard that I’m not the only guy who had issues with a knife this spring,” Snider said.

“We’ve got to come up with some kind of glove or something. Freak things happen.”

IN MONDAY’S exhibition game, Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa each pitched one scoreless inning. Earlier this spring training, Farrell had planned not to use either reliever until about one-third of the way through the exhibition schedule.

“They’re going to have ample rest between their outings,” Farrell said. “We still target roughly seven outings in spring training for both of them, so we can use the schedule to our advantage.”

Farrell said Uehara is a different – and better – pitcher than he was when he first was in the majors as a starter in 2009 with the Baltimore Orioles.

“He always had the ability to strike people out,” Farrell said.

“The deception and the split-finger were evident, even as a starter. But you always wondered how deep into a game he could maintain his stuff and continue to be effective. He’s obviously made a very seamless transition to the bullpen.”

CARP PUT UP solid numbers last season in a limited role with the Red Sox, hitting .296 in 86 games with a .885 on-base plus slugging percentage. He batted .321 coming off the bench.

“His acceptance of the role can’t be overlooked,” Farrell said. “He has a very compact swing, a low-maintenance swing, so we felt he’d be equipped to handle inconsistent playing time.”

Farrell believes Carp also was aided by frequent conversations with outfielder Jonny Gomes.

“Our guys last year, their conversations around the game of baseball were so evident and so regular that they fed off one another,” he said.

Here at MaineToday Media we value our readers and are committed to growing our community by encouraging you to add to the discussion.

To ensure conscientious dialogue we have implemented a strict no-bullying policy. To participate, you must follow our Terms of Use. Click here to flag and report a comment that violates our terms of use.